Gu and Migration Agents Registration Authority

This matter concerned an appeal by Mr Bo Gu against a decision by the Migration Agents Registration Authority to cancel his registration as a migration agent. The Authority's decision was based on findings that Mr Gu had breached the Code of Conduct for migration agents. The Tribunal was required to determine whether Mr Gu was a person of integrity and a fit and proper person to provide immigration assistance at the time of the Authority's decision, and what sanction, if any, was appropriate.

The central legal issues before the Tribunal were whether Mr Gu met the character requirements for registration as a migration agent and, if not, what disciplinary action was warranted. The Tribunal also considered objections raised by Mr Gu regarding the admissibility of English translations of Chinese documents, which the Authority had required him to obtain under section 308 of the relevant legislation. While the Tribunal did not make a definitive ruling on the admissibility of the translations, it noted that the issue had been raised by Mr Gu's representatives by reference to the Full Federal Court decision in *Fieldhouse & Ors v Commissioner of Taxation*.

The Tribunal found that at the time of the Authority's reviewable decision, Mr Gu did not satisfy the character requirements under section 303(1)(f). However, by the time of the Tribunal's own decision, Mr Gu did satisfy these requirements. The Tribunal reasoned that the appropriate sanction, given the circumstances between the Authority's decision and its own, was a suspension of Mr Gu's registration. The Tribunal therefore set aside the Authority's decision to cancel registration and substituted its own decision that Mr Gu's registration be suspended from 21 December 2020 until 13 April 2022, after which date the suspension would be lifted.